


Gold Pieces

by zestycheck (breathingfire)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Canon, Spoilers for Story and Song, especially for episode 69, more like unloading anxiety thats been gnawing at him for ages/comfort, uhhh maybe? it takes place during the epilogue. i dunno how to categorize this now lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 12:44:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11851836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breathingfire/pseuds/zestycheck
Summary: Sitting in a beautiful park almost a year after the apocalypse, Taako airs out some anxieties. Kravitz listens. They both make plans for the future.





	Gold Pieces

**Author's Note:**

> Didn't want to put this in the tags bc spoilers, but this is a couple months before the Sweetflips wedding, like early May probably.
> 
> And as always, Krav gets almost disgustingly romantic.

The breeze through the park was pleasant, gently brushing the new leaves and carrying the scent of flowers through the air. Kravitz was thoroughly enjoying himself; it was a lovely day, the type he had never paid attention to before, but that he really took to heart in his new lease on undeath. Sitting with Taako under a tree was one of his favorite ways to pass the time. Taako, however, seemed to be somewhere else entirely. He was staring off toward where Magnus and Angus were playing fetch with Magnus’s Scottish deerhound Johann across the field, but his eyes were unfocused and his expression was blank.

Kravitz was rather used to when Taako would get like this. He gently laid his hand on Taako’s and murmured, “Hey, love”; he was easily spooked these days. A lifetime of struggles and running doesn't translate well to peace.

Taako stiffened at the contact and his ears snapped to attention, but he didn't flinch. He blinked and turned towards Kravitz. “Hey, handsome,” he said, a lazy grin on his face, visibly relaxing.

“Copper for your thoughts?” Kravitz asked, expression naturally mirroring his lover's.

Taako blinked slowly, and after a moment, exaggerated offense, complete with one hand splayed across his chest. “Excuse me, _these_ beauties,” he said, tapping his temple, “are worth _at least_ a gold piece each.”

Kravitz couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Alright, alright then, gold piece for your thoughts?”

Taako grinned when he went along with it. He then looked away, sighing, expression falling a bit. “It’s just… its hard to believe that this is all… real. Its been almost a year now, and we've been doing so many great and cool things, but I still find myself waiting for the other shoe to drop, you know? Its hard to believe we’re even still alive.”

Kravitz smirked. “Well, _you’re_ still alive. I, on the other hand -” He cut himself off giggling when Taako stuck his tongue out at him.

“ _Semantics_ , you jerk,” Taako countered, grinning, only to look away again after a moment. “But... there really was a while there I was worried I was gonna lose you, ya know.”

Kravitz was taken aback a bit by the sudden honesty, but he couldn't say he was surprised. “I know,” he murmured. He took Taako’s hand and slotted their fingers together, giving his hand a comforting squeeze. Taako leaned his head on Kravitz’s shoulder, and they simply watched Magnus and Angus play with the dog in silence for a while.

“It may take a while to set in, Taako,” Kravitz murmured, “but we’re  _safe_ now. The Hunger isn’t coming back, I can promise you that.”

“... Do you really believe that?” Taako whispered, not taking his eyes off of Angus. It wasn’t accusatory, just a bit skeptical.

“It’s what the Raven Queen and Lady Istus say, so I’m inclined to believe it, yes.”

Taako huffed a bit. “Listen, no offense to you, or the goddesses, or whatever, but the Hunger wasn't exactly bowing to their power.”

Kravitz hummed. “Perhaps not, but they could feel something sinister building for centuries. And now the feeling is gone.”

Taako hummed noncommittally. Kravitz continued, stroking the back of Taako’s hand with his thumb, “You could probably ask the Lady yourself, you know. You're still her charge and I'm sure she would allow an audience with one of the seven saviors of existence.”

Taako grinned at the praise. “Fuck yeah she will,” he replied, grinning, then turned and pulled Kravitz down into a kiss.

Taako looked contented as he pulled away. Suddenly, his face darkened. “How do we know it won't happen again?” he whispered.

“What do you mean?”

“The Hunger was just a bunch of normal dudes, once. So, conceivably, it could all happen again.”

Kravitz smiled and shook his head. “Everyone in all the planes that have ever existed, or will ever exist, knows your story. That kind of power won't be allowed to slip up again. Everyone is too hopeful for the future for that.

You're _safe_ from cosmic existence-ending forces, Taako. Now we just have to worry about the normal dangers of your everyday life,” he chuckled.

Taako smiled and allowed the topic change. “About that, handsome. Lup and I have been talking, and I'm thinking about taking the Taako brand one step further and opening up a restaurant. Dunno how long I'll stay there personally as head chef, but I'm gonna stay there for the first… while. You know, pick and train the sous chefs, make sure my brand is being well represented, make sure the people get what they paid for, that sort of shit. Something a bit firmer than traveling and cooking on the road.” In a quieter tone of voice, he added, “I don't think I could do that again.”

Kravitz blinked. He knew quite a lot about Taako, sure, but not everything. This must've not been covered by the voidfish, and Taako certainly didn't tell him. His confusion must've shown in his face, because Taako smiled wanly. “Its mostly resolved itself, but.…” He sighs. “Maybe I'll tell you that story later, handsome. But not right now.”

Kravitz lifted their entwined hands to kiss Taako’s fingers. “Take all the time you need, love. We've got all the time in existence, now.” That earned him a warmer smile, but it still didn't quite reach his eyes. “I do think something more permanent like that would be good for you, though. I'm glad.”

“Cool,” Taako replied, resting his head on Kravitz’s shoulder again. “So, what do you think about Neverwinter?”

“Uh... sounds good, I guess? Seems like a big city would be a good place for a restaurant, but I haven't exactly been there in a few decades outside of our couple of dates - necromancers tend to work in more isolated places.”

Just then, they were interrupted by a stick narrowly missing Kravitz’s head, followed by a large furry animal nearly bowling him over as it ran past. Angus was running up behind the dog. “Sorry, sirs! Magnus threw the stick too hard.” When they looked over, Magnus was waving sheepishly and rubbing the back of his neck with his other hand.

“Don't worry about it, Ango,” Taako placated. “Just go have fun with the mutt… over there,” he said, gesturing vaguely to where Magnus was still standing.

After Angus was out of earshot, Taako let a small smile play across his lips. “He's a good kid, that one.” He turned back to Kravitz. “... But how would you feel about spending time there?” he asked, nervously licking his lips.

Kravitz's brow furrowed. Topic whiplash usually meant Taako was very nervous about something. “What, you mean in Neverwinter?” Taako nodded. “We've been on a couple dates there before, it's as good a place as any other for that. I just like spending time with you.” _What is he trying to get at?_

Taako smiled a bit more, blushing a bit. “No, I mean, uh…” Taako being unsure of his words was certainly not common. “Spending extended periods of time. In Neverwinter.”

“Extended periods…? I mean I understand if you want to have more dates there, since it would be more convenient -”

Taako let out a frustrated noise. “No, I'm asking if you want to _live with me_ , stupid.”

 _Oh._ That certainly wasn't expected. He didn't really know what to say to that, so he decided to focus on the dumb thing first.

“Well, first of all -”

“Nope.”

“- I'm not technically _alive_ -”

“ _Stop._ ” Taako leveled a glare at him.

Kravitz just grinned back at his boyfriend, who rolled his eyes affectionately and tried - and failed - to hide his smile.

But there was still the big question at hand. Actually _living with_ Taako. Sure, Kravitz had been spending more and more time with him, but he still spent a lot of time in the Astral. He wasn't sure if he could even spend more time in the Material Plane unless he brought his work home with him, as it were. It would only be paperwork, but he's pretty sure that sort of thing was frowned upon. Still, what would be the harm of working in Taako’s presence instead of in his dusty office? He would still be away for long stretches of time - he can't help that at all - but maybe moving in together would help them take advantage of the time they do have.

He must've been silent for too long, because suddenly Taako was backpedaling, _hard_. “I mean, I don't… I don't have my heart set on Neverwinter, if that's the problem. Maybe it's too soon? Or if you just don't want to. That's fine. I'm fine.” He sniffed and cleared his throat, louder than he intended, and looked away.

Kravitz sat, dumbfounded for a moment, trying to process everything that came tumbling out of the other's mouth. There's that secret insecurity, that “no one else will have me”. Not even saving the world would make that go away, apparently.

“Taako, I… I would love to.” Kravitz gently turned Taako's face back toward him. “I know I said the same thing almost a year ago, but I'm still so crazy about you. I love you, Taako, I'm so in love with you, and nothing's ever gonna change that.” He leaned over and kissed him, gently, lovingly, reverently. He relished in the warmth of Taako’s lips while also trying to convey the depth of his love beyond words.

He eventually pulled away. “That said, I do have some… things to hash out with the Raven Queen. And I think it would mean doing a lot of the paperwork side of my job at home. But I think we could do it,” Kravitz said, and smiled.

Taako was smiling back, gazing at him lovingly, when suddenly he perked up. “Wait, wait, wait. Did you say _paperwork_? The Grim Reaper has to do _paperwork?_ Is death just this one giant bureaucracy?” He laughed, full-bellied and unabashed. Kravitz felt a rush of affection just hearing it.

“Well… sort of?” Kravitz replied, shrugging. “It's mostly just keeping records of bounties, their past offenses and escape attempts, that sort of thing. I will say, though - and don't tell her I said this, but Lup is spectacularly bad about it. Getting it done on time, filling it out well, or even _correctly_ , you name it.”

“Oh, I could've told you _that_ , my man. I can't believe you didn't get a hundred years of Lucretia complaining about Lup’s half-assed reports blasted into your brain,” Taako snickered. “And, you know, I promise to only distract you from your super important paperwork _sometimes_. Like, maybe three times out of five.

“I'm totally telling her, though.”

**Author's Note:**

> A few things: 1) Taako went to Lup bc that's been their M.O. their entire lives. They go to each other to air out important life decisions, mostly to have the other act as a soundboard, but also because they genuinely care about each other's opinions. (Taako was the receiving end of an incredible number of talks about Barry.) And Ren is incredibly busy running the school.
> 
> 2) Lup was incredibly good at her job on the Starblaster, took notes on all their experiments like a good scientist, but absolutely hated writing up final official reports. Eventually Barry took over that responsibility completely to save Lucretia some heartache over the state of her official records. (Am I just projecting my struggles with AP Chem onto Lup? Maybe.) Lup just has a distaste for paperwork in general lol.
> 
> 3) Sazed's getting what's coming to him, of course, but it still weighs pretty heavily on Taako's mind.
> 
> 4) I originally had it as "well first of all -" "Stop." but I worried it wasn't clear enough lol
> 
> 5) I love these dorks in love.
> 
> \--
> 
> feel free to follow my taz tumblr [@zestycheck](https://zestycheck.tumblr.com)


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